I am a fourth-generation Coloradan, CSU graduate, father of two and Highlands Ranch resident. I think globally and act locally after working in Germany for six years for a U.S. business. As a Unity party candidate, through the use of consumer/business friendly legislation, I seek to provide powerful representation to enhance our standard of living and to protect our children and our environment. My main goal is to help our community thrive!

What can the Legislature do to ease the strain of rising housing prices on Colorado residents?

It is a tough problem, one could say increase supply and build more across the metro area, but if not strategic, then we put more strains on our limited, in some areas non-replenishable, water resources as has been done already in Douglas and Elbert counties. Policies that support efficient deployment of state resources that are consistent with program priorities to support increased rental and homeownership opportunities across Colorado.

What can be done to ensure the state's transportation system will be able to accommodate continued population growth?

We must incentivize the use of options like mass transit and carpooling. Incent behavior via innovative solutions, like in Asia, by providing tax credits based on one's carbon footprint. And this would have the double benefit of keeping Colorado as the leader in innovative business solutions and technology development.

I share the Denver Chamber viewpoint on Proposition 109 that would increase the state's debt; I support increased funding, but this is not the answer.

What two issues demand more attention in the upcoming Legislative session than they received in the previous one, and why?

Our kids, especially the ones at risk. Colorado has a no-longer-so-quiet growing statistic of juvenile and young-adult incarceration, drug use/abuse, overdoses and suicides. Juvenile justice, mental health, and education do not serve each other well. Special education is severely underfunded, and we are dead last in funding mental health. Let's fully fund great, existing programs like the grant-based Douglas County Support Center that serves kids with the prevalent learning disability of social emotional disorder.

If elected, what must you accomplish in order for you to consider your term a success?

Demonstrated results that help our kids. As a third-party candidate, I am uniquely positioned to be outside of the echo chamber of the two major parties, to foster finding common ground between the parties on issues that matter most to the families of Highlands Ranch. I must meet the legislative goals as expressed and desired by my constituents, discovered through my community outreach efforts and open-door policy, while balancing short-term vs long-term goals and impacts.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners is facing backlash from some residents for its decision to appoint former school board president Meghann Silverthorn to the Douglas County Libraries Board of …

A Douglas County teacher is on paid leave after screenshots of controversial Twitter posts went viral. Michelle Grissom, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Mountain Ridge Middle School in Highlands Ranch, apologized for the tweets in an email on Jan. 25.